


Eyes on the Prize

by debwalsh



Series: Worth a Second Look and Then Some [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Timestamp, establshed relationship, happy birthday bucky barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 11:12:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18072350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debwalsh/pseuds/debwalsh
Summary: It’s March 10, and the students of the Branagh Island school system want to show their appreciation for a certain history teacher.





	Eyes on the Prize

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get this posted earlier today, but just wasn’t able to get it done in time. Just a quick moment in the universe of Worth a Second Look. Ngl, I love these two nerds!

“Okay, okay, settle down!”

There was a cacophony of scraping chairs and shuffling bodies, and then his students planted their butts in their chairs, each and every one of them craning forward with funny little smiles on their faces.

“What?” he chuckled.“Do i have something on my face?”

As one, they shook their heads, their smiles growing into grins.

“Okay, what’s up?You know you’re dying to tell me.”

There was an expectant beat of silence, and then a thunderous, “Happy birthday, Mr. Barnes!”

Bucky leaned back on his desk, laughing openly.“And how’d you know?”

“Hey, it’s not every day you get a history teacher who’s in the history books, Mr. B!”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.I forget.You know me - my memory’s not always so reliable.So, yeah. It’s my birthday.So what?”

“So how old are you?Really?”

“Um, I was born in 1917.So I’m 102.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way, Eddie.”

“You don’t look a day over -“

“Don’t even go there, Sylvie,” Bucky warned with a grin and a wag of his finger.

“You’re very well preserved -“

“Ah-ah-ah, Greg!”

“So what’s Mr. Rogers got planned for your b-day?”

“Or are you like my Grandma and you stopped celebrating birthdays?”

“Joey, Grace, that’ll be enough,” Bucky laughed.“Of course my .. my guy’s got a nice weekend planned for us.We haven’t had many chances to celebrate birthdays together, so we make the best of them.”

“Your guy, huh?When is he gonna put a ring on it, huh?”

“Hey, my personal life is off limits, guys.At least until it’s useful for a history lesson.And since today we’re doing a unit on the Colonial era, today is not that day.So, who can tell me about the reasons settlers chose to risk everything to come to the Colonies?What was their motivation?”

&&&

“Hey, babe,” Steve greeted later that day after the students had streamed out of the school, and the building was quieting down.Bucky looked up and smiled, and Steve immediately went to him, his hand automatically going to Bucky’s hip to draw him in for a quick kiss.“How was your day?”

“Somebody spilled the beans about my birthday coming up.”

“Wasn’t me.”

“No?”

“Nope.”

“Sure?”

“Babe, your birthday is almost as famous as mine.”

“Honeybunch, my birthday isn’t a national fucking holiday.”

“Oughta be.”

“You’re sweet.Now, did you tell the kids?Any kid?”

“Buck, I didn’t have to.You’re famous in your own right.”

“Infamous, you mean.”

“Famous, baby.Read any book about the Howling Commandos, a lot of the books about the SSR, books about Project Rebirth -“

“Books about Captain America.”

“Yeah, him, too.”

“Him, too. You do remember that’s you, right?” 

“Yeah, Buck, I remember.But what I’m saying is the info is out there, in lots of different sources.The Internet.Wikipedia.SHIELDipedia.Kids don’t have to look too hard to find it.But the fact they did ... means they care about you.And they know how to do research.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.Now, how about we go home and get started on your birthday weekend?I can’t wait to unwrap you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, just me and you tonight.The gang comes up tomorrow, and Sunday we have the party.This weekend is all about Bucky Barnes.”

“That’s Bucky Barnes-Rogers to you, Mr. Steven Barnes-Rogers.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“We gonna tell everybody this weekend?”

“That we each put a ring on it and we got married New Year’s Eve?Might as well get all the shit out of the way.And then you can break it to your kids on Monday.”

“Ugh.They already ship us too hard.”

“You should try teaching art to a bunch of romantics.I swear to God, Buck, these kids are givin’ me ideas!”

“You’re tellin’ me your kids ship us?”

“Well, I was going to hold this until Sunday, but here,” Steve handed him a thick - like, multiple inches thick - portfolio.“This is from the kids.”

“Wait, the kids - the same kids I teach history to ... did art for my birthday?”

“Let’s face it, Buck.They love you.Sometimes I feel a little jealous, the kids all love Mr. Barnes better’n’me.But then again, I love Mr. Barnes - Barnes-Rogers - better’n’me.”

“You told them.You made it a project -“

“No, no I didn’t.The assignment was draw someone you admire.They conspired among themselves, and that’s what they turned in.Then they asked me if I would give them to you.”

“Everyone of them asked?”

“Well, they had a spokesperson, and they asked.And I asked the kids to confirm.And they did, every class.”

“Um, wow.”

“You’re crying right now.”

“Um, yeah?”

“I can’t tell sometimes.You’re still so beautiful when you cry.Unlike me -“

“Yeah, my honker don’t get all red like yours does, sweetheart.You’re the ugly crier of the family.”

“Fair skin, burns easily, cries ugly.Fate of the Irish.”

“Yep.Okay, I believe you.And I think you’ve softened me up enough.Let’s go home so we can take this somewhere private.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you Bucky Barnes-Rogers.Happy birthday.”

“Love you, too.Now get a move on.I’m feeling frisky.”

“You always feel frisky.”

“This is true.So whaddya gonna do about it, stud?”

Steve grinned at his husband and shook his head.“Whatever you want, birthday boy.”

 

END

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno, I think I may have to write more in this universe. Like my Meadowville Memories series, I love that this finds the boys making a life after war. And I really like the idea of both of them as teachers, discovering their own potential at the same time they’re helping kids discover theirs.


End file.
